June 18, 2024 • 46 mins
Nick Bradley’s journey to success began with a bang in 1994, when at 23 years old, he became the youngest director at the world renowned David Leadbetter Academy. His swift ascent through the academy’s ranks earned him a position as one of Leadbetter’s most trusted instructors, guiding golfers of diverse ages, handicaps, and swing patterns.
Taking a bold leap in 2005, Bradley crossed the Atlantic from his native England to the United States, where he would ultimately establish himself as one of the most renowned and respected instructors on a global scale.
His illustrious client list reads like a who’s who of golfing legends, including Tiger Woods, Ernie Els, and Phil Mickelson. With a coaching resume boasting over 400 professional golfers, such as Justin Rose, Sir Nick Faldo, Captain Paul McGinley, and Seamus Power, Bradley is celebrated for transforming Rose’s career, propelling him from a modest ranking of 125 in the world to an impressive 5th.
Beyond the fairways, Nick Bradley boasts an impressive track record as a two-time best-selling author, serving as a global authority on golf education for esteemed organizations like the Golf Union of Ireland, the PGA of Great Britain, The English Golf Union, and the Russian Golf Federation.
Not limiting his expertise to professionals, Bradley extends his instruction to golfers of all levels and ages, driven by an ardent passion for helping people improve their game. Always willing to share his wealth of knowledge and experience, he stands as an approachable mentor for all who seek his guidance.
A true trailblazer in the realm of golf instruction, Nick Bradley’s innovative methods have nurtured some of the finest golfers in the world. His legacy as a pioneering figure in the field is securely etched, with his techniques set to inspire golfers of all levels for many generations.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Today we play golf.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
Let me show you how we do it in the pros.
Speaker 3 (00:05):
Yeah . Welcome to Behind the Golf Brand podcast.
I never missed with the SevenIron , a conversation with some
of the most interestinginnovators and entrepreneurs
behind the biggest names ingolf. My
Speaker 4 (00:16):
Friends were the golf clubs. I lived on the golf
course, I lived on the drivingrange
Speaker 3 (00:19):
From Pro Talk . You should learn something from
each and every single round.
You play to fun from on and offthe green.
Speaker 5 (00:25):
Why would you play golf if you don't play it for
money?
Speaker 3 (00:27):
Just let me put the ball in a hole. This is Behind
the Golf Brand podcast withPaul Libert tore .
Speaker 6 (00:34):
What's up guys?
Welcome to the Behind the GolfBrand podcast this week I have
a legend in the studio. I'm agood friend Nick Bradley. You
guys have seen him everywhere.
He is not only a phenomenalcoach, but an author and has
his own school and I'm reallyexcited to having the show
'cause everybodys a lot of coolstories about where he started
from and how he got to where heis at. So welcome to the show.
(00:56):
Thanks
Speaker 7 (00:57):
Very much Paul.
Thank you for having me.
Speaker 6 (00:58):
So where are you at right now?
Speaker 7 (01:00):
So I'm a director of instruction at Nick Abo Country
Club in Tenafly , New Jersey.
Got up here August last yearjust off of a two and a half
year consultancy in Pinehurst,where I started a full-time,
junior Academy. And so , um,now that the kids have like
flown the Nest and what haveyou, I always wanted to, in my
(01:20):
career, always wanted to cometo the Met section. Obviously
in the, in the Springs andSummers and Falls. Um, this
part of my career, I think thatthe MET section offers just a
tremendous variety of golf andgreat golf courses. So , um,
yeah, I'm glad to be there. Themembership at Nick Ocker is
fantastic, really engaging,dedicated to , uh, improving
(01:43):
and it's a beautiful old DonaldRoss golf course. So a 1914,
the layout's fantastic.
Speaker 6 (01:48):
I bet it's like beautiful there right now,
isn't it? Or stunning . It'sstarting to get beautiful.
Speaker 7 (01:52):
It's about 73 today, light breeze, so it's, it's
really nice.
Speaker 6 (01:57):
Where did you grow up at in London?
Speaker 7 (01:59):
Yeah , so I'm from a little town called Kingston
upon Thames , right on theRiver Thames in , uh, in
England. And I actually, mysport before golf was swimming.
Uh , I swam , I swamcompetitively from the age of
eight to 21. Um, I, you guyshave states, we have counties .
So I was two time countychampion for Butterfly. And so,
(02:23):
you know, I represented mycounty and uh, used to actually
train with the England squad inCrystal Palace. And so I got to
a pretty high standard, but I'monly five foot seven and a half
. So Hogan size for those nutsout there. And um, so, you
know, I I started to competeagainst 14-year-old kids that
were six foot and I just got so, uh, tired of that. So at 16 I
(02:48):
took up golf, I got down toscratch in two years and I had
four of my friends in my schoolthat were golfers, they were
already playing. So I needed toget good really quickly so I
could play with them. And so Ijust read every book. I watched
every video. It was like theled better Faldo era. So golf
(03:08):
instruction was very popular atthat point. So , um, I actually
gravitated more towards golfinstruction and what made
people good and better ratherthan actually competing. I , I
, I struggled competing. 'causeas you know, swimming is on
your marks get set bang, andyou are going, golf is not like
(03:29):
that at all. So I just, I justdeveloped an aptitude for
technique and what works andwhat doesn't work and it kind
of like , uh, uh, you know, it, it carried on. And then I was
very fortunate at my golf clubin, in England, we had a
European tour player who usedto play and practice at the
golf club. And , uh, in 1989 hetook me to the European Tour
(03:51):
School and I cadd and ended upcoaching that week as well. So
from the age of 21, I wasreally immersed into tour level
coaching. Not that I wasprobably any good at that stage
by the way, but I was in thatenvironment where I'd be
walking onto the range atWentworth with se Sandy Lyle,
Ian Wman , who I played golfwith actually last month. And ,
(04:13):
uh, you know, so so tour levelgolf and tour golf was always
part of my life from a veryearly point.
Speaker 6 (04:19):
How did you like get into a golf though? Was is your
, did your dad play or yourgrandfather or?
Speaker 7 (04:24):
No, none of us actually. I'm a first
generation golfer. Whathappened was, there's a little
island
Speaker 8 (04:30):
You're a coach now, . That's crazy.
Speaker 7 (04:32):
Yeah , I know there's a little island of the
south of England called theIsle of White, actually
famously where Jimi Hendrixdied. But anyway, that's the ,
that's digression. He , um, soanyway, you know, we are big
into water sports windsurfingand water skiing. And the
weather was so bad this oneweek in May, 1986, I think it
(04:53):
was the month after Jack wonthe Masters. And , uh, so we
couldn't do anything. So therewas the little nine hole pitch
and putt place, little seveniron putter. And I remember
connecting with a couple ofshots thinking, God , that that
felt pretty good. And mygodfather, who was always
trying to get my dad to playgolf for me, and we said, no,
(05:14):
we don't wanna do it. Mygodfather played off of two. So
he gave me Hogan's fivefundamentals, five lessons, the
book. And I got a cheap set ofgolf clubs and I just, that was
it. I just got the bug. I mean,every night down the driving
range, a hundred golf ballslooking at golf world, golf
Digest, I mean, I just, I wasjust a sponge. I mean, probably
(05:37):
quite obsessed about it if thetruth be known. But it led onto
, um, led onto other things.
And I turned pro at 19 and as Isay , by the age of 20, I was
working on tour, like workingwith players. And this one
particular player, whatactually elevated me was he won
the 1993 , uh, Irish PGAchampionship at the K club
(06:00):
where they went on to play theRider Cup. And , um, and then I
started to get noticed actuallyin 93, 94, I was headhunted by
David Ledbetter and theorganization and I went from
England to Lake Nona inOrlando.
Speaker 6 (06:16):
Wow. So then you moved overseas in what, 94
then?
Speaker 7 (06:21):
93 4 , uh, April 94 . Um, I did like my
apprenticeship with leadwatching people like Andy Bean,
Marco Om , Nick Faldo , NickPrice. And those were the days
where we were the , like thesecond wave of instructors to
come in to work under David.
And you genuinely did every day. You know, you'd be work
(06:42):
setting up his golf balls,setting up the cameras and the
BHS , blah blah, blah . And youknow, Fowler would rock up into
town and you'd sit there withyour notebook and you'd watch
David actually coach all ofthese great players. And , um,
so it was amazing baptism offire. And um, that's kind of
like where I first got to knowNick actually. You know, I was
(07:03):
23, 24 years old. But what thenhappened was I went from Lake
Nona , um, I then started todirect some of his golf
academies around Europe. Um, somost prominently Mount Juliet
and Ireland , um, where I, Idirected there, but then in
Spain and various other places.
So, you know, I was theyoungest academy director in
(07:24):
the company at 25. And uh, itwas, it was fantastic. It was a
fantastic, I think three and ahalf years with the company. It
was good.
Speaker 6 (07:31):
You must have been like, like amazing, like if you
think about it 'cause you knewnothing and you wrote read
books and then you just likestarted to teach yourself. And
I mean, well what happened?
Like, how'd you get that goodthat fast? Like once you got,
did you get today in lessonsand stuff when you got like,
addicted to it or what?
Speaker 7 (07:47):
Yeah, so I mean, if you look at , um, if you look
at my first book, the SevenLaws of the Gold Swing, it kind
of gives you a clue because ,um, if you look at some of the
images in there, they're very,they're very dynamic images.
And I, what I did, the way thatI learned the golf swings so
(08:07):
quickly, I'm very artistic. Ihave a tremendous imagination.
And what I did was I started tolook at golf swings and
actually drew, I starteddrawing golf swings. And so I
understood about plane angles,I understood about radiuses, I
understood about lags, Iunderstood about ground
pressure. I mean, it's quitefunny that, you know, the, the,
(08:29):
the law three, this book waspublished 2003, the third law
is called Ground ForceDynamics, and this is 2003.
Well, guess what all thebuzzwords are now, how to use
the ground and da da da . So,you know, so what I did was I
noticed that people like MoNorman Lee Trevino , um, Tom
(08:50):
Wesoff with Jack, how they usedthe ground. And then what I did
was I drew it and then thatwould feature in my book. So
what I did was I, instead oftrying to earn , learn the golf
swing in a numerical orintellectual sense, I learned
it in a very visual sense,which just plugged in and I
just got it straight away. Justgot it straight away. So ,
(09:11):
because you're
Speaker 6 (09:12):
A visual learner, so you could see it and then
you're like, I bet other peoplecould just see this too and go,
oh, I get it now. Not thislike, you know, mathematical
formula where you need to be ata certain time and whatever it
Speaker 7 (09:22):
Might . Yeah . So if you look at great golf swings,
especially now withbiomechanics and everything,
you really can see there arevisual , um, commonalities in
great golf swings. You know,it's very rare that you'll get
a great looking golf swing thatwill hit the ball sideways. It
just don't happen. Right. Youknow, you can't,
Speaker 6 (09:42):
You haven't seen me golf yet.
Speaker 7 (09:44):
You , you , well , I need to see your
swing . You don't , youdon't drive a Ferrari out of
the parking lot and it onlygoes 60 miles an hour. Right.
Because it's a Ferrari. And ifyou've got great technique sta
let's say stable technique,then you, you would expect that
that machine to, to be somewhatin control of everything. So I
(10:07):
learned , I learned through ,um, actually one of Nick
Faldo's great books. It'scalled The Winning Formula. It
was his first ever book andthere were just hundreds of
pictures in there. Hundreds. Iwish I had it here, but it's in
my studio. Um, and I just,every picture I I drew and
sketched over. Um, so, and alot of those sketches that I
(10:29):
did back then in 87, 88, theynow, they , they now feature in
my books . I just , I just tookthem out and said, right,
they're still relevant. So ,um, that , that's how, you
know, one of my, one of mymentors, I've always had
mentors in my life. My fatherwas my first one. And then, you
know, I have others, one of mymentors in my life, he said,
Nick, find out what you arereally good at and keep doing
(10:52):
it. Find out what you're at andnever do it again.
Speaker 6 (10:56):
,
Speaker 7 (10:57):
Right? Yeah. So
Speaker 6 (10:58):
What are you outta the golf? Yeah .
Nothing . I
Speaker 7 (11:01):
Said , okay , what am I good at? What am I good
at? You know , I'm really goodat imagination. I'm really good
at drawing. Yeah,
Speaker 6 (11:07):
Exactly.
Speaker 7 (11:08):
I'm gonna play to those strengths. Smart . And
then I , that's smart. Then I ,
Speaker 6 (11:11):
I ended up and no one else is
really doing that right back .
I mean, you pictures in books,but no one was, was no one was
anybody really teaching likethat though, with visual or,
you know, to that extent,
Speaker 7 (11:21):
The closest was , um, Jim McLean , mc McQueen,
who used to do Jack Nicholas'sbooks. And they were quite
cartoony. They were ,
Speaker 6 (11:31):
I , my dad has a book, it's all yellow, and he
is in front of like , like Iknow, I know exactly what book
that is. My dad had that like ,all beat up and Raggedy. Now
there, you
Speaker 7 (11:39):
Golf magazine used to do the weird sketches in the
back and they, they were thebits that I just used to go to,
you know, and , uh, 'causethey, they were really
interesting. So it was , um, sothat, that's how I learned ,
that's how I learned to, youknow, say, well that kind of
looks right and that doesn't,that no, that's not right. And
this, and then , then I, thenall the science kind of backed
(12:00):
me up with , when I started,really took coaching on the
tour with a lot of otherplayers.
Speaker 6 (12:05):
It's funny too with like ground force reaction.
Like that's like the new thingnow, right? In the last couple
years or now it's starting tobe, but like, it's not just in
golf, like in baseball, I knowit's the exact same thing. Like
they talk about the exact samestuff. Like, you know, how to
hit the ball farther as abaseball player. Oh, it's
ground force . Right, right .
Yeah . But no one talked aboutthat 20 years ago
Speaker 7 (12:26):
As you know, I mean, I , I'm, I'm associated with
Square's golf shoes and the ,the science that Bob has put
into that, that sort of likerealm of the golf swing is
absolutely fascinating. Andlike you say , you know, 23, 20
years ago, whatever it is , um,I recognize that there were so
many golfers on driving ranges,like checking their club face
(12:47):
or checking their right arm,but they , they had legs like
Bambi, right? So it does ,
Speaker 6 (12:54):
I mean , ice
,
Speaker 7 (12:55):
You , you could be like, you could be like, Ben
Hogan here, right? Ben Hoganhere , but if your leg work is
like you , you just have nochance you're putting the cart
before the horse. So that was ,um, that was one of the big
things that I focused on was,okay, golf starts from the
ground upwards because guesswhat, the most consistent thing
in the golf swing is theground. 'cause it don't move.
(13:18):
So you have to build it up byvirtue of the fact that the
most consistent thing is theground. So you've gotta use
that.
Speaker 6 (13:25):
When did, so you came across and then when did
you start working with like,tour players right away? Or
were you already doing thatacross overseas before that?
Speaker 7 (13:33):
No, so I , a European tour I coached , um, I
, I coached about five nationalchampions by the age of 28. And
I, I finished second actuallyin the , um, the head coach's
position for the, the nationalteam of Ireland . And , uh,
'cause I finished second, Iwent off and that was it. I was
resurrected my tour work. So ,um, you know, I've had pupils
(13:56):
win the Italian open, theFrench Open. Uh, I , I started
to work with Justin Roseactually in 2004. That was the
first sort of time. But , uh,you know, in that period I had,
I had winners win the Irish PGum , the Irish Amateur
Championship, the ladiesItalian Open. I had three or
four challenge tour winners andblah, blah, blah . And then my
(14:19):
foot , then my book came out in2003. And I was like, well, I
kind of need a new adventurenow. And my, my father had
always encouraged me to look toAmerica and certainly golf
instruction was, as a business,was way better in America than
it ever was in the uk still is.
Um, and so that was it. So whathappened was when , um, I , I
(14:42):
tick all my boxes on theEuropean tour and releasing a
book, I was like, okay, wellAmerica, here I come. So I, I
had a very good friend of minein a place called Sunset Beach,
North Carolina. Uh, and he,there's a, there's a golf
course down there calledBarefoot, and you've got a
Fazio Lu . It's a huge place.
(15:02):
So I opened up my golf schoolthere in November, 2005. Um,
not thinking I was gonna workwith any tour players. I wanted
to open up golf academies. Andthen in May, 2006, I got a call
from Justin Rose and that wasit. I was back out on the PGA
tour coaching, tour players . So it was like, you
(15:22):
know, oh God, you know, all thebest intentions. So , um, so
yeah , so I was at back outthat , and I actually gifted
that golf academy. I actuallygifted it to my head assistant
that said, Merry Christmas,goodbye. You know, that was it.
Speaker 6 (15:36):
Like, I'm leaving, I got something going on. Yeah.
So how did Justin find you justfrom before, like, you know,
like earlier or did he hearabout you or did he go to your
school clinic or a class orthrough like what happened?
Like how did that all
Speaker 7 (15:50):
No , what happened was on the European tour, I've
had a couple of winners. Um ,and a couple of them actually
ironically, were ex Ledbetterstudents. Now. At the time,
Justin was working with David.
So he, you know, one was a guycalled Roger Winchester who won
with me. Uh , and there was acouple of others. And then at
(16:10):
the South African Open in 2004,he, I was walking down the
range and he asked me to take aquick look at him. And then ,
um, and then it was like theWachovia Championship as it was
then in Quail Hollow. He askedme to take a quick look at him
and you know, this ScottishOpen, can you take a quick look
at me? So it was always littlequick looks at him and he would
(16:32):
always play better after thesequick looks. And then in 2006 I
attended Quail Hollow, which isobviously, ironically this
week. And , um, he said, oh,would you take a quick look?
And I said, no. And he waslike, what? Uh , I said, no, I
, uh, listen , listen, everytime I look at you, you play
well. Uh , and you know, I , ifyou're gonna do this, let's do
(16:55):
it correctly. Because, youknow, I think he was like 120
in the world at the time and,you know, in complete free fall
. And so , um, so I think ittook him two weeks to muster up
the college courage to callDavid and say, look, it's been
fun. And then we startedworking together. I think the
first , uh, I think it wasmaybe the Houston Open or
something like that in 2006.
(17:17):
And then in a year he got toworld number five in European
number one, 20 months.
Actually, it's 20 months later.
So , um, yeah, I put in a plan.
I really understood the subjectmatter. Um, I , I organized
stuff a lot, clear , you know,a lot more clearly. And then ,
um, and then things started toroll over . I mean, we , we did
(17:38):
very well in the ma in themajors. And um, you know, he
won three times with me. That ,that , that was , um, that was
good. Yeah.
Speaker 6 (17:46):
Yeah, it was good.
Speaker 7 (17:47):
. Yeah. Yeah
. .
Speaker 6 (17:50):
Just , just a little bit.
Speaker 7 (17:52):
Well, I mean, I've always viewed myself as a
consultant, not a golfinstructor. I'm a consultant,
you know, and the difference isthis, and I see a lot of tour
players making this , thismistake today. And that is that
if you have a team around you,which are employees, paid
employees, an employee willcome in, look at the problem,
(18:14):
fix the problem, but becausethey hang around, they then
become part of the problem. Andthen the consultant comes in,
looks at the problem, fixes theproblem, then leaves. So then
you hand over ownership to thatplayer, right? So, so , um, so
really, you know, I've alwaysviewed myself as someone who
comes in is a problem. Fixerwill give you a plan, but I
(18:38):
don't like to hang around toolong, you know, because I don't
want to be part of thefurniture where complacency
sets in. So , um, you know,I've done that with Kevin
Chapel , um, who is actually,you know, down in , uh,
Arizona, I believe, you know,Kevin Chapel came out of UCLA,
his manager Ralph Cross calledme. I was really busy. I
(19:01):
actually got Kevin Chapel towrite me a letter 'cause I
wanted to find out howpassionate he was about being a
successful tour player. SoKevin wrote me a letter and I
said, well, this guy's pretty,you know, passionate. So again,
I I mapped out a plan. We didMonday qualifiers for
nationwide tour events. And ,um, he then qualified, he then
(19:22):
got into the top 10, and thenwithin seven months he'd won at
Stone Break . And then we gotonto the PGA tour , almost won
the US open at Congressional in, uh, 14 . So, so I'm very good
at , uh, problem solving . I'mnot good. Um, I'm not good. I ,
I get bored quickly, right? Soif there's something that
(19:44):
really interests me, like,okay, here's a problem, okay, I
will then go in. I get reallyexcited about fixing the
problem, learning the subjectmatter, getting in there,
fixing the weeds. But I'm goodas a consultant. Don't keep me
on beyond six months. 'cause I, you know, you're boring me
now. Right. You know, maybebringing Yeah.
Speaker 6 (20:04):
Like I told you already, like yeah. Like this
is , this is the plan. Like youhave to do it.
Speaker 7 (20:08):
Yeah. I'm not very good at babysitting. Yeah,
Speaker 6 (20:11):
Yeah .
Speaker 7 (20:11):
You know , I don't like, you know, if you look at
the best golfers in the world fthough , Jack, Nicholas ,
tiger, they're prettyself-sufficient individuals.
There's no drip feed of, youknow, information all the time.
And what I try to do with theseplayers is try and make them
self-sufficient so theyunderstand their business plan.
It's not my business plan, it'smy business plan that I'm gonna
(20:33):
give to them and they takeownership of it. If, if I hang
around, oh , it's, it'sterrible. Yeah . It's terrible
because they becomeover-reliant. Yeah.
Speaker 6 (20:42):
Yeah. Because you're like, you're babysitting at
that point. It's like they haveto rely on themselves. Like,
here's the, here's the outline,here's the plan. You need to
execute it. I'll help youexecute it, but then it's on
you to do this or not. Right.
Well,
Speaker 7 (20:56):
Here's, here's a great analogy for you. If the
only color you knew was red,you wouldn't know it was red
because you've got no othercolors to compare it against.
Right? And that's what happenswith golf instructors, is they
, there comes a point wherethey start to become swing
blind where they can't, they'veseen this swing so many times,
(21:16):
you know, it's like, you know,even though the numbers are
there, you've still gotta dothe visual interpretation.
'cause unless somethingvisually changes, the numbers
aren't gonna change. That'sjust a fact. Right? So there
comes a point in a relationshipwhere, you know, like a graph,
you go here and it's reallygood and you've got them very
(21:38):
efficient. And then there comesa point where it goes down
this, you've gotta pull out atthis point Yeah . Where things
are going well, you know, so ,um, so I'm not very , very
cognizant of that when I workwith players, even amateur.
Speaker 6 (21:52):
Where are your school ? Where's your schools
at right now? Or where are you? So you're in New Jersey, but
you doing again , do , is thereother schools too or just New
Jersey , or do you travelthroughout the year? Or what do
you do?
Speaker 7 (22:01):
Yeah, so I , um, I spend the summers up here , uh,
which is fantastic. And then Iam , I'm , I'm launching , um,
some products , uh, in thewinter this year, which are
gonna be online tutorialproducts. So they're gonna be
courses that people can buy,which I'm really excited about
because being visual , uh, Ireally, I'm gonna use certain
(22:25):
different dynamics with camerashots that have never been seen
before. I'm gonna use , I'm , Idon't wanna give too much away,
but it's gonna be verydifferent to what you may have
seen already. And they're gonnabe video products that people
can watch them at theirleisure. And , uh, but they're
gonna be very high product,like master classes . Um , so
if people want to come and seeme, it's easy . You just go on
(22:47):
Thrive. It's , I think it'sThrive Sports Thrive without an
E, they can look me up inTenafly , New Jersey, and they
can, they can book in just,just on the, on the app. It's
really easy to do. So , um, andfortunately with the club, I
can , I can look at outsidepeople as well, so it's good.
Yeah ,
Speaker 6 (23:03):
Because there's only so many hours in the day,
right? So it's like, you, youcan only see so many people in
a day. Like that's just a
Speaker 7 (23:11):
Yeah. But more than that, you know, I mean, it's
like with tour players, youmention hours there. One of the
big things that I flip with thetour player is get them to say,
look , there's no such thing astime management. It's actually
energy management. You know,you can't manage time anyway,
right? You can't speed it up,you can't slow it down, you
can't pause it, right? So whatyou can though, you can manage
(23:33):
the energy in that day. So ,um, I'm, I'm really careful
about how much energy I use.
Um, you know, throughout myteaching week, actually, I
learned a lot from watchingTiger. Learned a lot from
watching Tiger on the PGA tour,because Tiger, tiger was unique
, um, in so much as he, he wasoutta there very fast. He'd get
(23:57):
to the golf course at 5 45, 6in the morning. He'd play, do
his work by one 30. He was inhis hotel room playing his Xbox
or whatever it was, right? Sofrom one 30, he was in recovery
time. All the other tourplayers were there till six,
quick shower, go and havedinner, and then up at, you
know, seven the next morning.
(24:18):
So Tiger's genius and , andJack genius, 'cause Jack didn't
play a full schedule at all,was the fact that they really
understood energy managementover time management. That
would , that was the key thing.
So I do that with my teaching.
I'm , I wanna make sure thatI'm always fresh for the
student.
Speaker 6 (24:36):
So like, one time, are you done teaching then?
Have you , Ms. Williams ,really interesting actually
what you're saying , talkingabout, so like for you, what
time is it like, okay, I've hada , I can't do anymore , my
brain is wiped. Is there like atwo o'clock, three o'clock and
you're done? Or is it everydaydifferent? Or how do you do
that? If you're anentrepreneur, how
Speaker 7 (24:54):
Do , what I found is variety keeps my brain fresh.
So what I'll typically do isI'll do three sessions in the
morning, two early afternoon,then take a break, and then
I'll go on the golf course anddo playing instruction, working
on routines, rituals, breathingtechniques, visualizing, blah,
blah , blah . So I actuallystill do a full day, you know,
(25:16):
nine till six. Yeah . But'cause I'm breaking it up and
making it different, it holdsmy interest and my energy if I
was out there all the time.
Next one, next
Speaker 6 (25:25):
One on the range.
Next, next. Yeah, there's noway, right? There's absolutely
no way.
Speaker 7 (25:30):
Yeah. Forget it.
Forget it. And by , by the way,you are out there working on
people's golf swings to takethem on the golf course. You
know, you don't want 'em to bejust good range players. You
wanna say, okay, let's go outthere .
Speaker 6 (25:42):
You're a really good range player. Yeah ,
Speaker 7 (25:44):
Let , don't , don't leave here. We , we've built
the car in the shop, let's goand put it on the test track,
right? So that , so there's alot of that as well. You know,
I love doing that with juniorsas well. I've been very lucky
in my career. I've coached twojuniors to world champions ,
uh, four national champions andwhat have you . Juniors, if you
give me a great junior with agreat learning attitude, God ,
(26:07):
I mean, it's, it's so muchpleasure, so much pleasure.
Speaker 6 (26:10):
Like, what's, what's the best part of your job?
Like, what do you love? Like,what's the thing you love the
most about it?
Speaker 7 (26:16):
So one of the questions that I ask a student
is what today? What doessuccess look like to you in the
next 60 minutes or half daysession or whatever, what does
success look like to you? Andthen when they give me that
deliverable, I'm like, superfocused on changing or
manifesting that wish. So whenI actually say, let's say
(26:38):
someone comes over the top, Ihad a great guy the other day
check out my Instagram channelthat they , they over the top ,
um, you know, the club wascoming through the neck. I
mean, it was that steep. Andthen within 60 minutes, I've
got it going through the bicepin his lot . He's a lot
shallower in his jaw . He'dnever, he'd never hit a drawer
before. And it's thatwonderment on the face that I
(27:01):
think the
Speaker 6 (27:02):
Joy, the pure joy, you're like, that just happens
.
Speaker 7 (27:05):
Who , who hit that shot? You know? And , um, more
than that, it's even betterwhen they understand how they
did it
Speaker 6 (27:14):
And they can repeat it again. Yeah. It's not first
, right ?
Speaker 7 (27:17):
Yeah. So , um, so yeah, I think the best part of
my job is when people come tome, you know, and it could be a
tour player as well. I mean, I, I'll give you another great
example on those lines. Um, uh,Leona McGuire, who's on the
LPGA tour, she was at DukeUniversity. And , um, one day,
about five years ago, I get acall from the parents and she
(27:39):
had lost her number one rankingas an amateur in the world.
And, you know, the , thecoaching wasn't going well and
she was confused, blah, blah,blah . So I get called up in a
consultancy role and for like ayear and a half, I work with
her, I caddy for her in the USOpen. And, and she gets back to
world number one again. Um ,that's a classic car , classic
(28:00):
case of really digging someoneout of, out of a problem. And I
guess that's what still bringsme back to the job day after
day, is someone saying to me,I, I keep duffing my chips. I,
I cannot get out of a bunker.
And the best part of my job, toanswer your question more
succinctly, is that I'm not ateaching snob. I can work with
(28:23):
Justin Rose and Nick Faldo justas well as I can work with a 20
handicapper. I'm really luckyand so much that I don't go,
oh, I'm not gonna , I'm notgonna work with you. I'm just
gonna go and work with you. Uh, I've never had that value
system, which is really, I ,I'm really lucky that way.
Speaker 6 (28:39):
That's cool. So what, what is your favorite
memory teaching so far? Becauseyou got a lot of cool, like
what is the coolest thing youlike? Oh , this is the craziest
thing. When Justin, were youwith Justin when he won, when
got , when he
Speaker 7 (28:53):
No, it was , um, so Ryder Cup Captain Paul McGinley
, um, called me in in 2013 forthe 2014 matches. And he said,
Nick , he said, I want you to,and you know, you can Google
this Nick, I want you to createseven images for the team room
(29:15):
, uh, for the, the , in likeinternal messaging for the
team. So I worked for a yearputting these images together
with like little taglines, likesubliminal taglines, but also
very powerful images. And thatyear in 2014, there were only
two consultants that came in tohelp the team. One of them was
(29:36):
Sir Alex Ferguson, who'sManchester United's most
winning, the most mini winningmanager of all time, I think in
any sport. He was oneconsultant and I was the other
one. So I was deeply honored todo all of the messaging. So I
did some really cool stuff withthat. Like, for example, I
found this, I found this reallynine old 1976 image of se . And
(30:00):
he had like a monobrow, that'show young he looked , right ?
He had a monobrow, but he'slooking in the camera like he's
gonna rip your head off. And soI did a beautiful image of him
that actually was by the dooras my , our players walked out
onto the range. So the lastthing they saw was sebi , very
emotional for the Europeans.
(30:21):
And it said, I shake theirhand, I pat them on the back, I
wish them luck, but in my headI thinking I'm going to bury
you. That's
Speaker 6 (30:30):
Awesome.
Speaker 7 (30:31):
Which is an actual quote from Sebi . So I , I , I
tarted, I I , I created thisimage, and uh, that's where it
was on the thing. That's thelast thing. So they went, let's
go. So that, that was prettycool.
Speaker 6 (30:43):
Yeah. Because they're going into battle,
right? I mean, it's likethey're gonna be gentlemen
about it, but they're goinginto battle. They're still
gonna wanna destroy
Speaker 7 (30:49):
'em . Yeah, exactly.
Yeah. And , um, so, so that,that was pretty cool being, you
know, a consultant for theRyder Cup team that won. That
was nice. Um,
Speaker 6 (30:58):
They're always winning .
Speaker 7 (31:00):
You're what?
Speaker 6 (31:01):
They always win. Well ,
Speaker 7 (31:04):
You guys , yeah.
Yeah, that's right. Well, we'llsee, we'll see next year , eh ,
yeah , we'll see next . Butyeah, I've had some pretty cool
memories. I mean, you know,working with Fowler was
interesting. I mean, I rememberafter the Irish open in 94,
Nick and his family came toMount Juliet where I was
running the academy , uh, justfor a vacation. Nick was a big
(31:25):
fly fisher, right? Still is inMontana. And , um, so he went
down to the range with thislittle private range of Mount
Juliet down by the river. And Isaid to him, can I come and
watch you hit golf balls? Andhe said, sure, you know, no
problem. I've never taught NickFaldo at that point. I just
watched David coaching him. So, um, anyway, so I, I put some
(31:47):
on video just for my ownbenefit to look, and he, he ,
he kind of , he's a big guy. Heis like six three, he's like
gargantuan. And , um, he said,oh, he said, what do you see?
What do you see in my swing? Iwas 23 years old. And I was
like,
Speaker 6 (32:03):
Like , looks good to me. . Yeah.
Speaker 7 (32:05):
I was like, like that. I said, well, you know, I
think maybe this and this. Andhe goes, yeah. He said, that's
what I'm working on with David.
And I was like, wow . Likethat, that , that was pretty
cool. That was pretty nervewracking. I mean,
Speaker 6 (32:20):
You know , Nick , dude , you're like, you know,
tons of stuff . Like, it'sjust, I like it 'cause I like
it 'cause you're so humble, youknow, it's like, you know your
stuff and like, even 35 yearsago, right? Like, you're just
like, well, this is your bravoand the guy would listen to you
and you're right. You know. Butthen, like, the way you look at
things too is more like visual,which a lot of people are not,
(32:42):
you know, and you like that,like, you like to visually show
what you need to do to fix it,or what is a problem? Well ,
Speaker 7 (32:49):
That , that is true because, you know, people play
their worst golf, their worstgolf. I've got a Korn Ferry guy
at the moment is playingterrible golf at the moment,
not anywhere near hiscapability. And that's because
his focus is what we callnarrow internal. Everything is
like, me , me , me , me , me .
Everything's directed in thisway. And we know that players
(33:11):
play their best when they areworking with images and
feelings. No one , no one everreally got better through
hearing a great sentence.
Someone got better by feelingsomething or they imagined
something or whatever. So, youknow, the more you can move
away from like verbosity andwords and what have you, and go
(33:32):
into pictures and feelings,that's, that's the food that
the brain wants to have, right?
So if you can teach in thosemetaphors, then, you know, I ,
I think you've jumped over allthe, all the clap trap that
you, you can, you can get stuckinto.
Speaker 6 (33:49):
When did, when did your latest book come out?
Speaker 7 (33:52):
Uh, so my latest book is this one, which is 50
Secrets to Great Golf You Don'tKnow About Yet, right? Yeah .
And , um, no pictures in thisone. So what? Yeah, so I'm a
very , uh, I , I take a lot ofnotes, right? Like notes,
notes, notes.
Speaker 6 (34:10):
Oh my gosh, your notes . Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 7 (34:12):
Yeah. So what I did was I was like, oh my God, I've
got so many notes. What am Igonna do with these things? So
I thought, okay, I'm gonnabring out like books. So this
is 50 Secrets. They're just 50small essays, 50 small essays
that I've learned over 30 yearsof constructing, you know, and
they're , they're , they'resmall . They're small. So
(34:34):
they're not hard work on thebrain. Uh, I'm writing a new
book at the moment, which iscalled the PGA Tour Player's
Handbook to Success. And it'sall geared towards elite
players. And this book, thisbook's pretty hard hitting ,
I'm pulling no punches withthis book. So, you know, I'm
saying like , if you do that,you are an idiot. Okay? You
(34:54):
need to be doing this. Right?
So , uh, again, it's basedaround all the notes that I've
taken
Speaker 6 (35:01):
Life , right? It's like you're not gonna , but
you're not gonna sugarcoat it.
So like, you've seen it, youknow, like people , like, if
you can't handle that, then youreally shouldn't be on the
tour. Right. Or you shouldn'tbe playing that level.
Speaker 7 (35:12):
And by the way, you , you're not a grown adult.
Right. You know? So , um, soyeah, so, so 50 Secrets , uh,
is going really well. Uh,there's a , there's a, there's
a section in the back actuallyfor parents and juniors, which
, uh, I'm proud of. Um, but Ido wanna bring out in the next
couple of years, I do wannabring out a book that really
(35:35):
blows out the , thebiomechanics from a visual
point of view. Like people canjust turn the page and go,
Speaker 6 (35:42):
It's simple . Yeah.
It's so simple. They go, oh, Iget it. Oh, I see.
Speaker 7 (35:45):
Yeah . Boom . Yeah, that's it. So know , oh,
Speaker 6 (35:47):
That's a ground force . Okay, now I get it.
Yeah. Because you get all theselike terms and they're like,
oh, I think I understand whatthat means. But it's like they
, I don't know . Yeah .
Speaker 7 (35:54):
What does ground force mean? You know, you ,
you've got to visually show it.
Um, so yeah, so I do, I , youknow , there's another book in
the works there, but , uh, onebook at a time, Paul, one book
at a Time,
Speaker 6 (36:07):
. Um, so how
did you get, how'd you meet the
Guides at Squares? Were youalready talking about that kind
of thing? And then Bob, you metBob, or is it , was it through
Nick or what ?
Speaker 7 (36:17):
Well, well, obviously, you know, using the
ground was very pertinent in myteaching. Yeah. You know , I've
been writing about it for overtwo decades. And so what
happened was, I was just onLinkedIn and I see Bob here,
founder of Squares. Well, whatis that? And then it said the
(36:37):
leader in, you know, groundforce technology with shoes.
Now at that point, it couldhave been tennis, it could have
been the Javelin. It could havebeen, yeah . I didn't know it
was golf. So I looked, I lookedat it and I was like, wow,
someone actually gets it. Youknow, someone actually gets
that. The most consistent thingin the golf swing is the
ground, and you better darnwell use it. So I called him
(37:01):
up, I got in contact with him,and , um,
Speaker 6 (37:05):
Bob's great. I love Bob Bob's Bob's Bob's Oscar .
Yeah .
Speaker 7 (37:08):
And I wanted to know his story. And then he sent me
a pair of shoes, and I put theshoes on and I was like, you
know, I I , I've been sponsoredby Nike for 16 years and my F
feet felt like they were in asardine can, I mean, my feet
were like this .
Speaker 6 (37:23):
Oh yeah . Because the toe's so tight in them .
Speaker 7 (37:25):
Oh, it's like a tor . Oh yeah,
Speaker 6 (37:26):
Yeah. I hate that feeling like this .
Speaker 7 (37:28):
So then I put squares on and all of a sudden
my feet could splay, which isgood for gripping, right? I can
grip better like this than Ican like that, right? Yeah . So
all of a sudden now I'm feelingit. So yeah. So I , I, you
know, I went up New Hampshireand I visited with him and we
got on great. And you know, nowI'm a kind of like an advisor
in the company. Uh , and then,you know, I shot loads of
(37:51):
adverts with Nick Aldo , whichis ironic because that was my
hero when I was back in 18, 19years old. And here I am
working with Nick , uh, withthe golf shoes. So , um, so
yeah, kind of like went fullcircle. But they're, they're
fantastic. I mean, they, theyfeel so solid on your feet, not
Speaker 6 (38:10):
Have you gotten the new ones? The , the , because
they have those three new onesthat just came out. Which
Speaker 7 (38:14):
Ones ? Yeah, I've got a pair. I've got a pair
over here. Yeah, I
Speaker 6 (38:16):
Do. Which one, which one are you using? Or which one
do you like of the three? Um,
Speaker 7 (38:21):
The
Speaker 6 (38:22):
B low or ,
Speaker 7 (38:23):
Yeah, it's that one.
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (38:25):
Yeah, yeah . That's pretty cool too . So,
Speaker 7 (38:27):
But , uh, the other, the other area why I love it is
with putting, because with thesquare toe, as soon as I get my
line down on the putter , um,with my on point bull marker ,
by the way, there's anothergreat company you've, you've
gotta , you've gotta look at onPoint .
Speaker 6 (38:44):
I'm friends of Briton too. I know Briton.
Yeah. I known Briton for a longtime.
Speaker 7 (38:48):
What a great , um, what a great invention that is,
by the way . But as soon asI've used the on point bull
marker and put the line down,the square toes are so perfect
for like, okay, well I'm here,bang like that. So , uh,
between square's golf shoes andon point bull markers, you
should, you should have yourputting sorted out. I'm telling
(39:09):
you
Speaker 6 (39:10):
My putting's trash right now. I like had the best
round of golf like ever lastweek, like ever. And then I've
had like four, three putts.
Like, I mean, I was out drivingmy iron , everything's going,
my putting was trash. And I waslike, had I just gotten my
putting down even a normalputting day, it would've been
like low eighties. But no,didn't happen. Yeah.
Speaker 7 (39:29):
Well if , if you're three putting that much, you've
gotta look at your pace. 'causenormally it's pace,
Speaker 6 (39:35):
Is it? Yeah. I don't even know what I was doing
wrong. I got a new putter likelast couple months ago and
yeah, I don't know, I that itwas so frustrating.,
it's like the worst, like, youknow, like your best round, you
can't put, it's like, that'slike how golf is. I feel like.
Speaker 7 (39:49):
Well the frustrating thing about that is, is golf is
like a set of scales. If yourlong game is up, your short
game is down. If your shortgame is up, you'll , the trick
to golf is get thatequilibrium, right? So that's
what normally happens withpeople's golf games. And of
course if you are hitting a lotof fairways and greens
subconsciously is puttingpressure on you. 'cause you're
(40:10):
thinking I should be makingevery put here 'cause I'm
hitting all the greens. Youknow, it never
Speaker 6 (40:15):
Happens. Like it never happened before. Like
it's the complete opposite.
Like usually it's , I'm not, myputting saves my and then my
everything else doesn't work.
And then this is a completeopposite. I know what to deal .
Like I have four, three putts.
It's a lot of three putts.
Speaker 7 (40:27):
Yeah . Not good.
Speaker 6 (40:29):
Not good. No, I gotta see Nick Bradley. So I
need , I need to , I need toread your finish reading all
your books. And
Speaker 7 (40:35):
I haven't done a putting book yet, though .
Actually in, in my second book,kinetic Golf , there's quite a
lot of putting in thereactually. Kinetic golf . So,
you
Speaker 6 (40:43):
Know , you should do with the last book, like with
your YouTube channel, youshould like, make reels on
that. Or like little quickvideos on like each one of
those little secrets. That'd becool. 'cause people would watch
that . Yeah. You know, likenumber 47 . And then like, you
just show the video, you know,'cause that'd be a good reel
and a good like four minutevideo, I don't know. And you
just double dip.
Speaker 7 (41:04):
It's like , um, I , I watch , uh, Robert Green, the
48 Laws of Power, you know, hedoes that. And then you've got
, um, um, the , the guy who'sthe Daily stoic , uh, what's
his name? I
Speaker 6 (41:16):
Love Ryan Holiday .
Ryan Holiday . I love RyanHoliday . I just got like, IIII
love his books. I just got theone that was like 365 days of
Stoicism for Dads or something.
I don't know , like Yeah,
Speaker 7 (41:30):
Yeah. I've just finished , uh, uh, discipline
is Destiny, which is good. Imean, I'm fairly disciplined
anyway, but I mean, he , I dolike the reels to your point
that he does. And, and Robert,
Speaker 6 (41:43):
Yeah. Um , the Be my favorite is , uh, was it Ego Is
the Enemy And the Obstacle inthe Way, the Obstacle in the
Way is the first one I listenedto.
Speaker 7 (41:53):
Yeah. Obstacle is The Way. Actually Rory read
that one. Really ? Rory readthat that one five years ago
when he went through a reallybad patch and then started to
read about Stoicism. And he, heread a couple of Ryan's books
and really kind of like turnedhis thing , cleaned his
thinking up, you know, cleanedit up.
Speaker 6 (42:12):
I love stoicism. I'm like totally down with
Stoicism, I think . Like, Ididn't even know that was till
like five years ago. And I'mlike, where is this all my
life?
Speaker 7 (42:18):
Right? Yeah. I know . I , I had a friend, I had a
friend, Morgan Mason give me abook , uh, Marcus Aurelius
meditations. And this was backin like 2004 five. And uh , I
found it quite difficult tounderstand 'cause there's no
pictures. And uh ,
Speaker 6 (42:34):
You're like , you're like, I thought this was gonna
be like Gladiator. What thehell?
Speaker 7 (42:38):
. Yeah,
exactly. Yeah. Julius Caesar,
Richard Burton no less. And um,and anyway, yeah , so, but
Marcus Aurelius was my first ,um, meditations, first insight
into Stoicism.
Speaker 6 (42:50):
So how'd you, how'd you meet Briston from On Point
?
Speaker 7 (42:55):
Well , um, so I got introduced to Briston about
three or four years ago. And Iwas, I was in between meetings
and it was a quick hi bye sortof thing. And then , um, and
then somehow we got connectedagain through a mutual friend ,
uh, of ours. And he sent me aload of the product. And I
(43:17):
swear to you, I swear to you, Imade more 10 foot putts using
on point golf markers. 'cause Ijust set the marker down, set
the marker down really quickly,get the line, bang , bam bang .
And I was like, well, there'ssomething in this. There's
absolutely something in thefact that it's done Well ,
Speaker 6 (43:34):
It's very visual, like you, right. Because like,
that's, that's the key. It'slike visual. It's like, it's
not, it's three dimensional,right? We don't look at things
flat.
Speaker 7 (43:43):
No, you , your eyes have a problem because they're
looking at a two dimensionalcoin. Yeah . And then they're
trying to figure out the ball .
Well this is like a camel'shump. It goes one, two and it's
just , it just trundles on. SoI used it and I was like, wow.
So I then contacted Brison andyou know, I've gone on , you
know, I've done a lot of , uh,promotional stuff for Briton
(44:03):
and what have you. And my sonactually , um, my son who's in
construction, he actually nowworks for Briston out in Aspen
as well. 'cause you know, onpoint Bullock markers , believe
it or not, this is the geniusof Briston Peterson, is that
he's , he , that's not hisactual job. A little bit like ,
uh, you know, he's inconstruction, but guess who
else had a side job was , uh,ping founder cast . And Solheim
(44:29):
really cast Solheim. His actualoccupation, believe it or not,
was making prosthetic limbs. Ididn't know that. And then he
came up with the idea of Pingwith the putter and then
launched the , the Pingproduct. So Brisbane Peterson's
exactly the same. He is, he'sgot a amazing company called
Brico in Aspen, Colorado. Butas a sideline, he said, oh ,
(44:51):
I'll just, I'll just inventthese amazing bull markers ,
blah, blah , blah . So thefolks listening should really
check it out on point . Golf us. Really Amazing. Yeah,
Speaker 6 (45:00):
I've been, I've known him Britons like for a
long, like a long time. Likewe're buddies. Yeah.
Speaker 7 (45:05):
Such a lovely guy .
He's a
Speaker 6 (45:07):
Good dude. Yeah . So where can people find you or
the best way people can findyou? So
Speaker 7 (45:12):
Yeah, YouTube, it's Nick Bradley golf , and it's
the same with Instagram. And ,um, uh, my web , my website's
bradley golf.com. So there's ,uh, there's some stuff on
there, mainly online courses.
But of course they can, they,they can see me in person if
they want to. Um, and to get medirect , uh, just go through
(45:34):
the website, there's a contactbox there. They can email me
direct and if they're in thearea, I'll , uh, my first
question to them will be whatdoes success look like to you?
And what can I do ?
Speaker 6 (45:45):
That's awesome.
Well, I really appreciate youbeing on the show. I know
you're a very busy, busy man.
And , um, I'm a big fan. Ifollowed your career and you
guys need to check out Nick'sstuff Like Nick , Nick is the
real deal. And um, so thank youfor being on the show. I really
do appreciate it.
Speaker 7 (46:05):
Thank you, Paul.
Thank you for having me.
Speaker 3 (46:07):
Thanks for listening to another episode of Behind
the Golf Brand podcast. You'regonna beat me and golf stay
connected on and off the showby visiting golfers
authority.com. Don't forget tolike, subscribe and leave a
comment. Golf is always morefun when you win. Stay out of
the beach and see you on thegreen.
Today we play golf.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
Let me show you how we do it in the pros.
Speaker 3 (00:05):
Yeah . Welcome to Behind the Golf Brand podcast.
I never missed with the SevenIron , a conversation with some
of the most interestinginnovators and entrepreneurs
behind the biggest names ingolf. My
Speaker 4 (00:16):
Friends were the golf clubs. I lived on the golf
course, I lived on the drivingrange
Speaker 3 (00:19):
From Pro Talk . You should learn something from
each and every single round.
You play to fun from on and offthe green.
Speaker 5 (00:25):
Why would you play golf if you don't play it for
money?
Speaker 3 (00:27):
Just let me put the ball in a hole. This is Behind
the Golf Brand podcast withPaul Libert tore .
Speaker 6 (00:34):
What's up guys?
Welcome to the Behind the GolfBrand podcast this week I have
a legend in the studio. I'm agood friend Nick Bradley. You
guys have seen him everywhere.
He is not only a phenomenalcoach, but an author and has
his own school and I'm reallyexcited to having the show
'cause everybodys a lot of coolstories about where he started
from and how he got to where heis at. So welcome to the show.
(00:56):
Thanks
Speaker 7 (00:57):
Very much Paul.
Thank you for having me.
Speaker 6 (00:58):
So where are you at right now?
Speaker 7 (01:00):
So I'm a director of instruction at Nick Abo Country
Club in Tenafly , New Jersey.
Got up here August last yearjust off of a two and a half
year consultancy in Pinehurst,where I started a full-time,
junior Academy. And so , um,now that the kids have like
flown the Nest and what haveyou, I always wanted to, in my
(01:20):
career, always wanted to cometo the Met section. Obviously
in the, in the Springs andSummers and Falls. Um, this
part of my career, I think thatthe MET section offers just a
tremendous variety of golf andgreat golf courses. So , um,
yeah, I'm glad to be there. Themembership at Nick Ocker is
fantastic, really engaging,dedicated to , uh, improving
(01:43):
and it's a beautiful old DonaldRoss golf course. So a 1914,
the layout's fantastic.
Speaker 6 (01:48):
I bet it's like beautiful there right now,
isn't it? Or stunning . It'sstarting to get beautiful.
Speaker 7 (01:52):
It's about 73 today, light breeze, so it's, it's
really nice.
Speaker 6 (01:57):
Where did you grow up at in London?
Speaker 7 (01:59):
Yeah , so I'm from a little town called Kingston
upon Thames , right on theRiver Thames in , uh, in
England. And I actually, mysport before golf was swimming.
Uh , I swam , I swamcompetitively from the age of
eight to 21. Um, I, you guyshave states, we have counties .
So I was two time countychampion for Butterfly. And so,
(02:23):
you know, I represented mycounty and uh, used to actually
train with the England squad inCrystal Palace. And so I got to
a pretty high standard, but I'monly five foot seven and a half
. So Hogan size for those nutsout there. And um, so, you
know, I I started to competeagainst 14-year-old kids that
were six foot and I just got so, uh, tired of that. So at 16 I
(02:48):
took up golf, I got down toscratch in two years and I had
four of my friends in my schoolthat were golfers, they were
already playing. So I needed toget good really quickly so I
could play with them. And so Ijust read every book. I watched
every video. It was like theled better Faldo era. So golf
(03:08):
instruction was very popular atthat point. So , um, I actually
gravitated more towards golfinstruction and what made
people good and better ratherthan actually competing. I , I
, I struggled competing. 'causeas you know, swimming is on
your marks get set bang, andyou are going, golf is not like
(03:29):
that at all. So I just, I justdeveloped an aptitude for
technique and what works andwhat doesn't work and it kind
of like , uh, uh, you know, it, it carried on. And then I was
very fortunate at my golf clubin, in England, we had a
European tour player who usedto play and practice at the
golf club. And , uh, in 1989 hetook me to the European Tour
(03:51):
School and I cadd and ended upcoaching that week as well. So
from the age of 21, I wasreally immersed into tour level
coaching. Not that I wasprobably any good at that stage
by the way, but I was in thatenvironment where I'd be
walking onto the range atWentworth with se Sandy Lyle,
Ian Wman , who I played golfwith actually last month. And ,
(04:13):
uh, you know, so so tour levelgolf and tour golf was always
part of my life from a veryearly point.
Speaker 6 (04:19):
How did you like get into a golf though? Was is your
, did your dad play or yourgrandfather or?
Speaker 7 (04:24):
No, none of us actually. I'm a first
generation golfer. Whathappened was, there's a little
island
Speaker 8 (04:30):
You're a coach now,
Speaker 7 (04:32):
Yeah , I know there's a little island of the
south of England called theIsle of White, actually
famously where Jimi Hendrixdied. But anyway, that's the ,
that's digression. He , um, soanyway, you know, we are big
into water sports windsurfingand water skiing. And the
weather was so bad this oneweek in May, 1986, I think it
(04:53):
was the month after Jack wonthe Masters. And , uh, so we
couldn't do anything. So therewas the little nine hole pitch
and putt place, little seveniron putter. And I remember
connecting with a couple ofshots thinking, God , that that
felt pretty good. And mygodfather, who was always
trying to get my dad to playgolf for me, and we said, no,
(05:14):
we don't wanna do it. Mygodfather played off of two. So
he gave me Hogan's fivefundamentals, five lessons, the
book. And I got a cheap set ofgolf clubs and I just, that was
it. I just got the bug. I mean,every night down the driving
range, a hundred golf ballslooking at golf world, golf
Digest, I mean, I just, I wasjust a sponge. I mean, probably
(05:37):
quite obsessed about it if thetruth be known. But it led onto
, um, led onto other things.
And I turned pro at 19 and as Isay , by the age of 20, I was
working on tour, like workingwith players. And this one
particular player, whatactually elevated me was he won
the 1993 , uh, Irish PGAchampionship at the K club
(06:00):
where they went on to play theRider Cup. And , um, and then I
started to get noticed actuallyin 93, 94, I was headhunted by
David Ledbetter and theorganization and I went from
England to Lake Nona inOrlando.
Speaker 6 (06:16):
Wow. So then you moved overseas in what, 94
then?
Speaker 7 (06:21):
93 4 , uh, April 94 . Um, I did like my
apprenticeship with leadwatching people like Andy Bean,
Marco Om , Nick Faldo , NickPrice. And those were the days
where we were the , like thesecond wave of instructors to
come in to work under David.
And you genuinely did every day. You know, you'd be work
(06:42):
setting up his golf balls,setting up the cameras and the
BHS , blah blah, blah . And youknow, Fowler would rock up into
town and you'd sit there withyour notebook and you'd watch
David actually coach all ofthese great players. And , um,
so it was amazing baptism offire. And um, that's kind of
like where I first got to knowNick actually. You know, I was
(07:03):
23, 24 years old. But what thenhappened was I went from Lake
Nona , um, I then started todirect some of his golf
academies around Europe. Um, somost prominently Mount Juliet
and Ireland , um, where I, Idirected there, but then in
Spain and various other places.
So, you know, I was theyoungest academy director in
(07:24):
the company at 25. And uh, itwas, it was fantastic. It was a
fantastic, I think three and ahalf years with the company. It
was good.
Speaker 6 (07:31):
You must have been like, like amazing, like if you
think about it 'cause you knewnothing and you wrote read
books and then you just likestarted to teach yourself. And
I mean, well what happened?
Like, how'd you get that goodthat fast? Like once you got,
did you get today in lessonsand stuff when you got like,
addicted to it or what?
Speaker 7 (07:47):
Yeah, so I mean, if you look at , um, if you look
at my first book, the SevenLaws of the Gold Swing, it kind
of gives you a clue because ,um, if you look at some of the
images in there, they're very,they're very dynamic images.
And I, what I did, the way thatI learned the golf swings so
(08:07):
quickly, I'm very artistic. Ihave a tremendous imagination.
And what I did was I started tolook at golf swings and
actually drew, I starteddrawing golf swings. And so I
understood about plane angles,I understood about radiuses, I
understood about lags, Iunderstood about ground
pressure. I mean, it's quitefunny that, you know, the, the,
(08:29):
the law three, this book waspublished 2003, the third law
is called Ground ForceDynamics, and this is 2003.
Well, guess what all thebuzzwords are now, how to use
the ground and da da da . So,you know, so what I did was I
noticed that people like MoNorman Lee Trevino , um, Tom
(08:50):
Wesoff with Jack, how they usedthe ground. And then what I did
was I drew it and then thatwould feature in my book. So
what I did was I, instead oftrying to earn , learn the golf
swing in a numerical orintellectual sense, I learned
it in a very visual sense,which just plugged in and I
just got it straight away. Justgot it straight away. So ,
(09:11):
because you're
Speaker 6 (09:12):
A visual learner, so you could see it and then
you're like, I bet other peoplecould just see this too and go,
oh, I get it now. Not thislike, you know, mathematical
formula where you need to be ata certain time and whatever it
Speaker 7 (09:22):
Might . Yeah . So if you look at great golf swings,
especially now withbiomechanics and everything,
you really can see there arevisual , um, commonalities in
great golf swings. You know,it's very rare that you'll get
a great looking golf swing thatwill hit the ball sideways. It
just don't happen. Right. Youknow, you can't,
Speaker 6 (09:42):
You haven't seen me golf yet.
Speaker 7 (09:44):
You , you , well
swing
the parking lot and it onlygoes 60 miles an hour. Right.
Because it's a Ferrari. And ifyou've got great technique sta
let's say stable technique,then you, you would expect that
that machine to, to be somewhatin control of everything. So I
(10:07):
learned , I learned through ,um, actually one of Nick
Faldo's great books. It'scalled The Winning Formula. It
was his first ever book andthere were just hundreds of
pictures in there. Hundreds. Iwish I had it here, but it's in
my studio. Um, and I just,every picture I I drew and
sketched over. Um, so, and alot of those sketches that I
(10:29):
did back then in 87, 88, theynow, they , they now feature in
my books . I just , I just tookthem out and said, right,
they're still relevant. So ,um, that , that's how, you
know, one of my, one of mymentors, I've always had
mentors in my life. My fatherwas my first one. And then, you
know, I have others, one of mymentors in my life, he said,
Nick, find out what you arereally good at and keep doing
(10:52):
it. Find out what you're at andnever do it again.
Speaker 6 (10:56):
Speaker 7 (10:57):
Right? Yeah. So
Speaker 6 (10:58):
What are you outta the golf
Nothing . I
Speaker 7 (11:01):
Said , okay , what am I good at? What am I good
at? You know , I'm really goodat imagination. I'm really good
at drawing. Yeah,
Speaker 6 (11:07):
Exactly.
Speaker 7 (11:08):
I'm gonna play to those strengths. Smart . And
then I , that's smart. Then I ,
Speaker 6 (11:11):
I ended up
really doing that right back .
I mean, you pictures in books,but no one was, was no one was
anybody really teaching likethat though, with visual or,
you know, to that extent,
Speaker 7 (11:21):
The closest was , um, Jim McLean , mc McQueen,
who used to do Jack Nicholas'sbooks. And they were quite
cartoony. They were ,
Speaker 6 (11:31):
I , my dad has a book, it's all yellow, and he
is in front of like , like Iknow, I know exactly what book
that is. My dad had that like ,all beat up and Raggedy. Now
there, you
Speaker 7 (11:39):
Golf magazine used to do the weird sketches in the
back and they, they were thebits that I just used to go to,
you know, and , uh, 'causethey, they were really
interesting. So it was , um, sothat, that's how I learned ,
that's how I learned to, youknow, say, well that kind of
looks right and that doesn't,that no, that's not right. And
this, and then , then I, thenall the science kind of backed
(12:00):
me up with , when I started,really took coaching on the
tour with a lot of otherplayers.
Speaker 6 (12:05):
It's funny too with like ground force reaction.
Like that's like the new thingnow, right? In the last couple
years or now it's starting tobe, but like, it's not just in
golf, like in baseball, I knowit's the exact same thing. Like
they talk about the exact samestuff. Like, you know, how to
hit the ball farther as abaseball player. Oh, it's
ground force . Right, right .
Yeah . But no one talked aboutthat 20 years ago
Speaker 7 (12:26):
As you know, I mean, I , I'm, I'm associated with
Square's golf shoes and the ,the science that Bob has put
into that, that sort of likerealm of the golf swing is
absolutely fascinating. Andlike you say , you know, 23, 20
years ago, whatever it is , um,I recognize that there were so
many golfers on driving ranges,like checking their club face
(12:47):
or checking their right arm,but they , they had legs like
Bambi, right? So it does ,
Speaker 6 (12:54):
I mean , ice
Speaker 7 (12:55):
You , you could be like, you could be like, Ben
Hogan here, right? Ben Hoganhere , but if your leg work is
like you , you just have nochance you're putting the cart
before the horse. So that was ,um, that was one of the big
things that I focused on was,okay, golf starts from the
ground upwards because guesswhat, the most consistent thing
in the golf swing is theground. 'cause it don't move.
(13:18):
So you have to build it up byvirtue of the fact that the
most consistent thing is theground. So you've gotta use
that.
Speaker 6 (13:25):
When did, so you came across and then when did
you start working with like,tour players right away? Or
were you already doing thatacross overseas before that?
Speaker 7 (13:33):
No, so I , a European tour I coached , um, I
, I coached about five nationalchampions by the age of 28. And
I, I finished second actuallyin the , um, the head coach's
position for the, the nationalteam of Ireland . And , uh,
'cause I finished second, Iwent off and that was it. I was
resurrected my tour work. So ,um, you know, I've had pupils
(13:56):
win the Italian open, theFrench Open. Uh, I , I started
to work with Justin Roseactually in 2004. That was the
first sort of time. But , uh,you know, in that period I had,
I had winners win the Irish PGum , the Irish Amateur
Championship, the ladiesItalian Open. I had three or
four challenge tour winners andblah, blah, blah . And then my
(14:19):
foot , then my book came out in2003. And I was like, well, I
kind of need a new adventurenow. And my, my father had
always encouraged me to look toAmerica and certainly golf
instruction was, as a business,was way better in America than
it ever was in the uk still is.
Um, and so that was it. So whathappened was when , um, I , I
(14:42):
tick all my boxes on theEuropean tour and releasing a
book, I was like, okay, wellAmerica, here I come. So I, I
had a very good friend of minein a place called Sunset Beach,
North Carolina. Uh, and he,there's a, there's a golf
course down there calledBarefoot, and you've got a
Fazio Lu . It's a huge place.
(15:02):
So I opened up my golf schoolthere in November, 2005. Um,
not thinking I was gonna workwith any tour players. I wanted
to open up golf academies. Andthen in May, 2006, I got a call
from Justin Rose and that wasit. I was back out on the PGA
tour coaching, tour players
(15:22):
know, oh God, you know, all thebest intentions. So , um, so
yeah , so I was at back outthat , and I actually gifted
that golf academy. I actuallygifted it to my head assistant
that said, Merry Christmas,goodbye. You know, that was it.
Speaker 6 (15:36):
Like, I'm leaving, I got something going on. Yeah.
So how did Justin find you justfrom before, like, you know,
like earlier or did he hearabout you or did he go to your
school clinic or a class orthrough like what happened?
Like how did that all
Speaker 7 (15:50):
No , what happened was on the European tour, I've
had a couple of winners. Um ,and a couple of them actually
ironically, were ex Ledbetterstudents. Now. At the time,
Justin was working with David.
So he, you know, one was a guycalled Roger Winchester who won
with me. Uh , and there was acouple of others. And then at
(16:10):
the South African Open in 2004,he, I was walking down the
range and he asked me to take aquick look at him. And then ,
um, and then it was like theWachovia Championship as it was
then in Quail Hollow. He askedme to take a quick look at him
and you know, this ScottishOpen, can you take a quick look
at me? So it was always littlequick looks at him and he would
(16:32):
always play better after thesequick looks. And then in 2006 I
attended Quail Hollow, which isobviously, ironically this
week. And , um, he said, oh,would you take a quick look?
And I said, no. And he waslike, what? Uh , I said, no, I
, uh, listen , listen, everytime I look at you, you play
well. Uh , and you know, I , ifyou're gonna do this, let's do
(16:55):
it correctly. Because, youknow, I think he was like 120
in the world at the time and,you know, in complete free fall
. And so , um, so I think ittook him two weeks to muster up
the college courage to callDavid and say, look, it's been
fun. And then we startedworking together. I think the
first , uh, I think it wasmaybe the Houston Open or
something like that in 2006.
(17:17):
And then in a year he got toworld number five in European
number one, 20 months.
Actually, it's 20 months later.
So , um, yeah, I put in a plan.
I really understood the subjectmatter. Um, I , I organized
stuff a lot, clear , you know,a lot more clearly. And then ,
um, and then things started toroll over . I mean, we , we did
(17:38):
very well in the ma in themajors. And um, you know, he
won three times with me. That ,that , that was , um, that was
good. Yeah.
Speaker 6 (17:46):
Yeah, it was good.
Speaker 7 (17:47):
Speaker 6 (17:50):
Just , just a little bit.
Speaker 7 (17:52):
Well, I mean, I've always viewed myself as a
consultant, not a golfinstructor. I'm a consultant,
you know, and the difference isthis, and I see a lot of tour
players making this , thismistake today. And that is that
if you have a team around you,which are employees, paid
employees, an employee willcome in, look at the problem,
(18:14):
fix the problem, but becausethey hang around, they then
become part of the problem. Andthen the consultant comes in,
looks at the problem, fixes theproblem, then leaves. So then
you hand over ownership to thatplayer, right? So, so , um, so
really, you know, I've alwaysviewed myself as someone who
comes in is a problem. Fixerwill give you a plan, but I
(18:38):
don't like to hang around toolong, you know, because I don't
want to be part of thefurniture where complacency
sets in. So , um, you know,I've done that with Kevin
Chapel , um, who is actually,you know, down in , uh,
Arizona, I believe, you know,Kevin Chapel came out of UCLA,
his manager Ralph Cross calledme. I was really busy. I
(19:01):
actually got Kevin Chapel towrite me a letter 'cause I
wanted to find out howpassionate he was about being a
successful tour player. SoKevin wrote me a letter and I
said, well, this guy's pretty,you know, passionate. So again,
I I mapped out a plan. We didMonday qualifiers for
nationwide tour events. And ,um, he then qualified, he then
(19:22):
got into the top 10, and thenwithin seven months he'd won at
Stone Break . And then we gotonto the PGA tour , almost won
the US open at Congressional in, uh, 14 . So, so I'm very good
at , uh, problem solving . I'mnot good. Um, I'm not good. I ,
I get bored quickly, right? Soif there's something that
(19:44):
really interests me, like,okay, here's a problem, okay, I
will then go in. I get reallyexcited about fixing the
problem, learning the subjectmatter, getting in there,
fixing the weeds. But I'm goodas a consultant. Don't keep me
on beyond six months. 'cause I, you know, you're boring me
now. Right. You know, maybebringing Yeah.
Speaker 6 (20:04):
Like I told you already, like yeah. Like this
is , this is the plan. Like youhave to do it.
Speaker 7 (20:08):
Yeah. I'm not very good at babysitting. Yeah,
Speaker 6 (20:11):
Yeah .
Speaker 7 (20:11):
You know , I don't like, you know, if you look at
the best golfers in the world fthough , Jack, Nicholas ,
tiger, they're prettyself-sufficient individuals.
There's no drip feed of, youknow, information all the time.
And what I try to do with theseplayers is try and make them
self-sufficient so theyunderstand their business plan.
It's not my business plan, it'smy business plan that I'm gonna
(20:33):
give to them and they takeownership of it. If, if I hang
around, oh , it's, it'sterrible. Yeah . It's terrible
because they becomeover-reliant. Yeah.
Speaker 6 (20:42):
Yeah. Because you're like, you're babysitting at
that point. It's like they haveto rely on themselves. Like,
here's the, here's the outline,here's the plan. You need to
execute it. I'll help youexecute it, but then it's on
you to do this or not. Right.
Well,
Speaker 7 (20:56):
Here's, here's a great analogy for you. If the
only color you knew was red,you wouldn't know it was red
because you've got no othercolors to compare it against.
Right? And that's what happenswith golf instructors, is they
, there comes a point wherethey start to become swing
blind where they can't, they'veseen this swing so many times,
(21:16):
you know, it's like, you know,even though the numbers are
there, you've still gotta dothe visual interpretation.
'cause unless somethingvisually changes, the numbers
aren't gonna change. That'sjust a fact. Right? So there
comes a point in a relationshipwhere, you know, like a graph,
you go here and it's reallygood and you've got them very
(21:38):
efficient. And then there comesa point where it goes down
this, you've gotta pull out atthis point Yeah . Where things
are going well, you know, so ,um, so I'm not very , very
cognizant of that when I workwith players, even amateur.
Speaker 6 (21:52):
Where are your school ? Where's your schools
at right now? Or where are you? So you're in New Jersey, but
you doing again , do , is thereother schools too or just New
Jersey , or do you travelthroughout the year? Or what do
you do?
Speaker 7 (22:01):
Yeah, so I , um, I spend the summers up here , uh,
which is fantastic. And then Iam , I'm , I'm launching , um,
some products , uh, in thewinter this year, which are
gonna be online tutorialproducts. So they're gonna be
courses that people can buy,which I'm really excited about
because being visual , uh, Ireally, I'm gonna use certain
(22:25):
different dynamics with camerashots that have never been seen
before. I'm gonna use , I'm , Idon't wanna give too much away,
but it's gonna be verydifferent to what you may have
seen already. And they're gonnabe video products that people
can watch them at theirleisure. And , uh, but they're
gonna be very high product,like master classes . Um , so
if people want to come and seeme, it's easy . You just go on
(22:47):
Thrive. It's , I think it'sThrive Sports Thrive without an
E, they can look me up inTenafly , New Jersey, and they
can, they can book in just,just on the, on the app. It's
really easy to do. So , um, andfortunately with the club, I
can , I can look at outsidepeople as well, so it's good.
Yeah ,
Speaker 6 (23:03):
Because there's only so many hours in the day,
right? So it's like, you, youcan only see so many people in
a day. Like that's just a
Speaker 7 (23:11):
Yeah. But more than that, you know, I mean, it's
like with tour players, youmention hours there. One of the
big things that I flip with thetour player is get them to say,
look , there's no such thing astime management. It's actually
energy management. You know,you can't manage time anyway,
right? You can't speed it up,you can't slow it down, you
can't pause it, right? So whatyou can though, you can manage
(23:33):
the energy in that day. So ,um, I'm, I'm really careful
about how much energy I use.
Um, you know, throughout myteaching week, actually, I
learned a lot from watchingTiger. Learned a lot from
watching Tiger on the PGA tour,because Tiger, tiger was unique
, um, in so much as he, he wasoutta there very fast. He'd get
(23:57):
to the golf course at 5 45, 6in the morning. He'd play, do
his work by one 30. He was inhis hotel room playing his Xbox
or whatever it was, right? Sofrom one 30, he was in recovery
time. All the other tourplayers were there till six,
quick shower, go and havedinner, and then up at, you
know, seven the next morning.
(24:18):
So Tiger's genius and , andJack genius, 'cause Jack didn't
play a full schedule at all,was the fact that they really
understood energy managementover time management. That
would , that was the key thing.
So I do that with my teaching.
I'm , I wanna make sure thatI'm always fresh for the
student.
Speaker 6 (24:36):
So like, one time, are you done teaching then?
Have you , Ms. Williams ,really interesting actually
what you're saying , talkingabout, so like for you, what
time is it like, okay, I've hada , I can't do anymore , my
brain is wiped. Is there like atwo o'clock, three o'clock and
you're done? Or is it everydaydifferent? Or how do you do
that? If you're anentrepreneur, how
Speaker 7 (24:54):
Do , what I found is variety keeps my brain fresh.
So what I'll typically do isI'll do three sessions in the
morning, two early afternoon,then take a break, and then
I'll go on the golf course anddo playing instruction, working
on routines, rituals, breathingtechniques, visualizing, blah,
blah , blah . So I actuallystill do a full day, you know,
(25:16):
nine till six. Yeah . But'cause I'm breaking it up and
making it different, it holdsmy interest and my energy if I
was out there all the time.
Next one, next
Speaker 6 (25:25):
One on the range.
Next, next. Yeah, there's noway, right? There's absolutely
no way.
Speaker 7 (25:30):
Yeah. Forget it.
Forget it. And by , by the way,you are out there working on
people's golf swings to takethem on the golf course. You
know, you don't want 'em to bejust good range players. You
wanna say, okay, let's go outthere .
Speaker 6 (25:42):
You're a really good range player. Yeah ,
Speaker 7 (25:44):
Let , don't , don't leave here. We , we've built
the car in the shop, let's goand put it on the test track,
right? So that , so there's alot of that as well. You know,
I love doing that with juniorsas well. I've been very lucky
in my career. I've coached twojuniors to world champions ,
uh, four national champions andwhat have you . Juniors, if you
give me a great junior with agreat learning attitude, God ,
(26:07):
I mean, it's, it's so muchpleasure, so much pleasure.
Speaker 6 (26:10):
Like, what's, what's the best part of your job?
Like, what do you love? Like,what's the thing you love the
most about it?
Speaker 7 (26:16):
So one of the questions that I ask a student
is what today? What doessuccess look like to you in the
next 60 minutes or half daysession or whatever, what does
success look like to you? Andthen when they give me that
deliverable, I'm like, superfocused on changing or
manifesting that wish. So whenI actually say, let's say
(26:38):
someone comes over the top, Ihad a great guy the other day
check out my Instagram channelthat they , they over the top ,
um, you know, the club wascoming through the neck. I
mean, it was that steep. Andthen within 60 minutes, I've
got it going through the bicepin his lot . He's a lot
shallower in his jaw . He'dnever, he'd never hit a drawer
before. And it's thatwonderment on the face that I
(27:01):
think the
Speaker 6 (27:02):
Joy, the pure joy, you're like, that just happens
.
Speaker 7 (27:05):
Who , who hit that shot? You know? And , um, more
than that, it's even betterwhen they understand how they
did it
Speaker 6 (27:14):
And they can repeat it again. Yeah. It's not first
, right ?
Speaker 7 (27:17):
Yeah. So , um, so yeah, I think the best part of
my job is when people come tome, you know, and it could be a
tour player as well. I mean, I, I'll give you another great
example on those lines. Um, uh,Leona McGuire, who's on the
LPGA tour, she was at DukeUniversity. And , um, one day,
about five years ago, I get acall from the parents and she
(27:39):
had lost her number one rankingas an amateur in the world.
And, you know, the , thecoaching wasn't going well and
she was confused, blah, blah,blah . So I get called up in a
consultancy role and for like ayear and a half, I work with
her, I caddy for her in the USOpen. And, and she gets back to
world number one again. Um ,that's a classic car , classic
(28:00):
case of really digging someoneout of, out of a problem. And I
guess that's what still bringsme back to the job day after
day, is someone saying to me,I, I keep duffing my chips. I,
I cannot get out of a bunker.
And the best part of my job, toanswer your question more
succinctly, is that I'm not ateaching snob. I can work with
(28:23):
Justin Rose and Nick Faldo justas well as I can work with a 20
handicapper. I'm really luckyand so much that I don't go,
oh, I'm not gonna , I'm notgonna work with you. I'm just
gonna go and work with you. Uh, I've never had that value
system, which is really, I ,I'm really lucky that way.
Speaker 6 (28:39):
That's cool. So what, what is your favorite
memory teaching so far? Becauseyou got a lot of cool, like
what is the coolest thing youlike? Oh , this is the craziest
thing. When Justin, were youwith Justin when he won, when
got , when he
Speaker 7 (28:53):
No, it was , um, so Ryder Cup Captain Paul McGinley
, um, called me in in 2013 forthe 2014 matches. And he said,
Nick , he said, I want you to,and you know, you can Google
this Nick, I want you to createseven images for the team room
(29:15):
, uh, for the, the , in likeinternal messaging for the
team. So I worked for a yearputting these images together
with like little taglines, likesubliminal taglines, but also
very powerful images. And thatyear in 2014, there were only
two consultants that came in tohelp the team. One of them was
(29:36):
Sir Alex Ferguson, who'sManchester United's most
winning, the most mini winningmanager of all time, I think in
any sport. He was oneconsultant and I was the other
one. So I was deeply honored todo all of the messaging. So I
did some really cool stuff withthat. Like, for example, I
found this, I found this reallynine old 1976 image of se . And
(30:00):
he had like a monobrow, that'show young he looked , right ?
He had a monobrow, but he'slooking in the camera like he's
gonna rip your head off. And soI did a beautiful image of him
that actually was by the dooras my , our players walked out
onto the range. So the lastthing they saw was sebi , very
emotional for the Europeans.
(30:21):
And it said, I shake theirhand, I pat them on the back, I
wish them luck, but in my headI thinking I'm going to bury
you. That's
Speaker 6 (30:30):
Awesome.
Speaker 7 (30:31):
Which is an actual quote from Sebi . So I , I , I
tarted, I I , I created thisimage, and uh, that's where it
was on the thing. That's thelast thing. So they went, let's
go. So that, that was prettycool.
Speaker 6 (30:43):
Yeah. Because they're going into battle,
right? I mean, it's likethey're gonna be gentlemen
about it, but they're goinginto battle. They're still
gonna wanna destroy
Speaker 7 (30:49):
'em . Yeah, exactly.
Yeah. And , um, so, so that,that was pretty cool being, you
know, a consultant for theRyder Cup team that won. That
was nice. Um,
Speaker 6 (30:58):
They're always winning
Speaker 7 (31:00):
You're what?
Speaker 6 (31:01):
They always win
Speaker 7 (31:04):
You guys , yeah.
Yeah, that's right. Well, we'llsee, we'll see next year , eh ,
yeah , we'll see next . Butyeah, I've had some pretty cool
memories. I mean, you know,working with Fowler was
interesting. I mean, I rememberafter the Irish open in 94,
Nick and his family came toMount Juliet where I was
running the academy , uh, justfor a vacation. Nick was a big
(31:25):
fly fisher, right? Still is inMontana. And , um, so he went
down to the range with thislittle private range of Mount
Juliet down by the river. And Isaid to him, can I come and
watch you hit golf balls? Andhe said, sure, you know, no
problem. I've never taught NickFaldo at that point. I just
watched David coaching him. So, um, anyway, so I, I put some
(31:47):
on video just for my ownbenefit to look, and he, he ,
he kind of , he's a big guy. Heis like six three, he's like
gargantuan. And , um, he said,oh, he said, what do you see?
What do you see in my swing? Iwas 23 years old. And I was
like,
Speaker 6 (32:03):
Like , looks good to me.
Speaker 7 (32:05):
I was like, like that. I said, well, you know, I
think maybe this and this. Andhe goes, yeah. He said, that's
what I'm working on with David.
And I was like, wow . Likethat, that , that was pretty
cool. That was pretty nervewracking. I mean,
Speaker 6 (32:20):
You know , Nick , dude , you're like, you know,
tons of stuff . Like, it'sjust, I like it 'cause I like
it 'cause you're so humble, youknow, it's like, you know your
stuff and like, even 35 yearsago, right? Like, you're just
like, well, this is your bravoand the guy would listen to you
and you're right. You know. Butthen, like, the way you look at
things too is more like visual,which a lot of people are not,
(32:42):
you know, and you like that,like, you like to visually show
what you need to do to fix it,or what is a problem? Well ,
Speaker 7 (32:49):
That , that is true because, you know, people play
their worst golf, their worstgolf. I've got a Korn Ferry guy
at the moment is playingterrible golf at the moment,
not anywhere near hiscapability. And that's because
his focus is what we callnarrow internal. Everything is
like, me , me , me , me , me .
Everything's directed in thisway. And we know that players
(33:11):
play their best when they areworking with images and
feelings. No one , no one everreally got better through
hearing a great sentence.
Someone got better by feelingsomething or they imagined
something or whatever. So, youknow, the more you can move
away from like verbosity andwords and what have you, and go
(33:32):
into pictures and feelings,that's, that's the food that
the brain wants to have, right?
So if you can teach in thosemetaphors, then, you know, I ,
I think you've jumped over allthe, all the clap trap that
you, you can, you can get stuckinto.
Speaker 6 (33:49):
When did, when did your latest book come out?
Speaker 7 (33:52):
Uh, so my latest book is this one, which is 50
Secrets to Great Golf You Don'tKnow About Yet, right? Yeah .
And , um, no pictures in thisone. So what? Yeah, so I'm a
very , uh, I , I take a lot ofnotes, right? Like notes,
notes, notes.
Speaker 6 (34:10):
Oh my gosh, your notes . Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 7 (34:12):
Yeah. So what I did was I was like, oh my God, I've
got so many notes. What am Igonna do with these things? So
I thought, okay, I'm gonnabring out like books. So this
is 50 Secrets. They're just 50small essays, 50 small essays
that I've learned over 30 yearsof constructing, you know, and
they're , they're , they'resmall . They're small. So
(34:34):
they're not hard work on thebrain. Uh, I'm writing a new
book at the moment, which iscalled the PGA Tour Player's
Handbook to Success. And it'sall geared towards elite
players. And this book, thisbook's pretty hard hitting ,
I'm pulling no punches withthis book. So, you know, I'm
saying like , if you do that,you are an idiot. Okay? You
(34:54):
need to be doing this. Right?
So , uh, again, it's basedaround all the notes that I've
taken
Speaker 6 (35:01):
Life , right? It's like you're not gonna , but
you're not gonna sugarcoat it.
So like, you've seen it, youknow, like people , like, if
you can't handle that, then youreally shouldn't be on the
tour. Right. Or you shouldn'tbe playing that level.
Speaker 7 (35:12):
And by the way, you , you're not a grown adult.
Right. You know? So , um, soyeah, so, so 50 Secrets , uh,
is going really well. Uh,there's a , there's a, there's
a section in the back actuallyfor parents and juniors, which
, uh, I'm proud of. Um, but Ido wanna bring out in the next
couple of years, I do wannabring out a book that really
(35:35):
blows out the , thebiomechanics from a visual
point of view. Like people canjust turn the page and go,
Speaker 6 (35:42):
It's simple . Yeah.
It's so simple. They go, oh, Iget it. Oh, I see.
Speaker 7 (35:45):
Yeah . Boom . Yeah, that's it. So know , oh,
Speaker 6 (35:47):
That's a ground force . Okay, now I get it.
Yeah. Because you get all theselike terms and they're like,
oh, I think I understand whatthat means. But it's like they
, I don't know . Yeah .
Speaker 7 (35:54):
What does ground force mean? You know, you ,
you've got to visually show it.
Um, so yeah, so I do, I , youknow , there's another book in
the works there, but , uh, onebook at a time, Paul, one book
at a Time,
Speaker 6 (36:07):
Guides at Squares? Were youalready talking about that kind
of thing? And then Bob, you metBob, or is it , was it through
Nick or what ?
Speaker 7 (36:17):
Well, well, obviously, you know, using the
ground was very pertinent in myteaching. Yeah. You know , I've
been writing about it for overtwo decades. And so what
happened was, I was just onLinkedIn and I see Bob here,
founder of Squares. Well, whatis that? And then it said the
(36:37):
leader in, you know, groundforce technology with shoes.
Now at that point, it couldhave been tennis, it could have
been the Javelin. It could havebeen, yeah . I didn't know it
was golf. So I looked, I lookedat it and I was like, wow,
someone actually gets it. Youknow, someone actually gets
that. The most consistent thingin the golf swing is the
ground, and you better darnwell use it. So I called him
(37:01):
up, I got in contact with him,and , um,
Speaker 6 (37:05):
Bob's great. I love Bob Bob's Bob's Bob's Oscar .
Yeah .
Speaker 7 (37:08):
And I wanted to know his story. And then he sent me
a pair of shoes, and I put theshoes on and I was like, you
know, I I , I've been sponsoredby Nike for 16 years and my F
feet felt like they were in asardine can, I mean, my feet
were like this .
Speaker 6 (37:23):
Oh yeah . Because the toe's so tight in them .
Speaker 7 (37:25):
Oh, it's like a tor . Oh yeah,
Speaker 6 (37:26):
Yeah. I hate that feeling like this .
Speaker 7 (37:28):
So then I put squares on and all of a sudden
my feet could splay, which isgood for gripping, right? I can
grip better like this than Ican like that, right? Yeah . So
all of a sudden now I'm feelingit. So yeah. So I , I, you
know, I went up New Hampshireand I visited with him and we
got on great. And you know, nowI'm a kind of like an advisor
in the company. Uh , and then,you know, I shot loads of
(37:51):
adverts with Nick Aldo , whichis ironic because that was my
hero when I was back in 18, 19years old. And here I am
working with Nick , uh, withthe golf shoes. So , um, so
yeah, kind of like went fullcircle. But they're, they're
fantastic. I mean, they, theyfeel so solid on your feet, not
Speaker 6 (38:10):
Have you gotten the new ones? The , the , because
they have those three new onesthat just came out. Which
Speaker 7 (38:14):
Ones ? Yeah, I've got a pair. I've got a pair
over here. Yeah, I
Speaker 6 (38:16):
Do. Which one, which one are you using? Or which one
do you like of the three? Um,
Speaker 7 (38:21):
The
Speaker 6 (38:22):
B low or ,
Speaker 7 (38:23):
Yeah, it's that one.
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (38:25):
Yeah, yeah . That's pretty cool too . So,
Speaker 7 (38:27):
But , uh, the other, the other area why I love it is
with putting, because with thesquare toe, as soon as I get my
line down on the putter , um,with my on point bull marker ,
by the way, there's anothergreat company you've, you've
gotta , you've gotta look at onPoint .
Speaker 6 (38:44):
I'm friends of Briton too. I know Briton.
Yeah. I known Briton for a longtime.
Speaker 7 (38:48):
What a great , um, what a great invention that is,
by the way . But as soon asI've used the on point bull
marker and put the line down,the square toes are so perfect
for like, okay, well I'm here,bang like that. So , uh,
between square's golf shoes andon point bull markers, you
should, you should have yourputting sorted out. I'm telling
(39:09):
you
Speaker 6 (39:10):
My putting's trash right now. I like had the best
round of golf like ever lastweek, like ever. And then I've
had like four, three putts.
Like, I mean, I was out drivingmy iron , everything's going,
my putting was trash. And I waslike, had I just gotten my
putting down even a normalputting day, it would've been
like low eighties. But no,didn't happen. Yeah.
Speaker 7 (39:29):
Well if , if you're three putting that much, you've
gotta look at your pace. 'causenormally it's pace,
Speaker 6 (39:35):
Is it? Yeah. I don't even know what I was doing
wrong. I got a new putter likelast couple months ago and
yeah, I don't know, I that itwas so frustrating.
it's like the worst, like, youknow, like your best round, you
can't put, it's like, that'slike how golf is. I feel like.
Speaker 7 (39:49):
Well the frustrating thing about that is, is golf is
like a set of scales. If yourlong game is up, your short
game is down. If your shortgame is up, you'll , the trick
to golf is get thatequilibrium, right? So that's
what normally happens withpeople's golf games. And of
course if you are hitting a lotof fairways and greens
subconsciously is puttingpressure on you. 'cause you're
(40:10):
thinking I should be makingevery put here 'cause I'm
hitting all the greens. Youknow, it never
Speaker 6 (40:15):
Happens. Like it never happened before. Like
it's the complete opposite.
Like usually it's , I'm not, myputting saves my and then my
everything else doesn't work.
And then this is a completeopposite. I know what to deal .
Like I have four, three putts.
It's a lot of three putts.
Speaker 7 (40:27):
Yeah . Not good.
Speaker 6 (40:29):
Not good. No, I gotta see Nick Bradley. So I
need , I need to , I need toread your finish reading all
your books. And
Speaker 7 (40:35):
I haven't done a putting book yet, though .
Actually in, in my second book,kinetic Golf , there's quite a
lot of putting in thereactually. Kinetic golf . So,
you
Speaker 6 (40:43):
Know , you should do with the last book, like with
your YouTube channel, youshould like, make reels on
that. Or like little quickvideos on like each one of
those little secrets. That'd becool. 'cause people would watch
that . Yeah. You know, likenumber 47 . And then like, you
just show the video, you know,'cause that'd be a good reel
and a good like four minutevideo, I don't know. And you
just double dip.
Speaker 7 (41:04):
It's like , um, I , I watch , uh, Robert Green, the
48 Laws of Power, you know, hedoes that. And then you've got
, um, um, the , the guy who'sthe Daily stoic , uh, what's
his name? I
Speaker 6 (41:16):
Love Ryan Holiday .
Ryan Holiday . I love RyanHoliday . I just got like, IIII
love his books. I just got theone that was like 365 days of
Stoicism for Dads or something.
I don't know , like Yeah,
Speaker 7 (41:30):
Yeah. I've just finished , uh, uh, discipline
is Destiny, which is good. Imean, I'm fairly disciplined
anyway, but I mean, he , I dolike the reels to your point
that he does. And, and Robert,
Speaker 6 (41:43):
Yeah. Um , the Be my favorite is , uh, was it Ego Is
the Enemy And the Obstacle inthe Way, the Obstacle in the
Way is the first one I listenedto.
Speaker 7 (41:53):
Yeah. Obstacle is The Way. Actually Rory read
that one. Really ? Rory readthat that one five years ago
when he went through a reallybad patch and then started to
read about Stoicism. And he, heread a couple of Ryan's books
and really kind of like turnedhis thing , cleaned his
thinking up, you know, cleanedit up.
Speaker 6 (42:12):
I love stoicism. I'm like totally down with
Stoicism, I think . Like, Ididn't even know that was till
like five years ago. And I'mlike, where is this all my
life?
Speaker 7 (42:18):
Right? Yeah. I know . I , I had a friend, I had a
friend, Morgan Mason give me abook , uh, Marcus Aurelius
meditations. And this was backin like 2004 five. And uh , I
found it quite difficult tounderstand 'cause there's no
pictures
Speaker 6 (42:34):
You're like , you're like, I thought this was gonna
be like Gladiator. What thehell?
Speaker 7 (42:38):
Richard Burton no less. And um,and anyway, yeah , so, but
Marcus Aurelius was my first ,um, meditations, first insight
into Stoicism.
Speaker 6 (42:50):
So how'd you, how'd you meet Briston from On Point
?
Speaker 7 (42:55):
Well , um, so I got introduced to Briston about
three or four years ago. And Iwas, I was in between meetings
and it was a quick hi bye sortof thing. And then , um, and
then somehow we got connectedagain through a mutual friend ,
uh, of ours. And he sent me aload of the product. And I
(43:17):
swear to you, I swear to you, Imade more 10 foot putts using
on point golf markers. 'cause Ijust set the marker down, set
the marker down really quickly,get the line, bang , bam bang .
And I was like, well, there'ssomething in this. There's
absolutely something in thefact that it's done Well ,
Speaker 6 (43:34):
It's very visual, like you, right. Because like,
that's, that's the key. It'slike visual. It's like, it's
not, it's three dimensional,right? We don't look at things
flat.
Speaker 7 (43:43):
No, you , your eyes have a problem because they're
looking at a two dimensionalcoin. Yeah . And then they're
trying to figure out the ball .
Well this is like a camel'shump. It goes one, two and it's
just , it just trundles on. SoI used it and I was like, wow.
So I then contacted Brison andyou know, I've gone on , you
know, I've done a lot of , uh,promotional stuff for Briton
(44:03):
and what have you. And my sonactually , um, my son who's in
construction, he actually nowworks for Briston out in Aspen
as well. 'cause you know, onpoint Bullock markers , believe
it or not, this is the geniusof Briston Peterson, is that
he's , he , that's not hisactual job. A little bit like ,
uh, you know, he's inconstruction, but guess who
else had a side job was , uh,ping founder cast . And Solheim
(44:29):
really cast Solheim. His actualoccupation, believe it or not,
was making prosthetic limbs. Ididn't know that. And then he
came up with the idea of Pingwith the putter and then
launched the , the Pingproduct. So Brisbane Peterson's
exactly the same. He is, he'sgot a amazing company called
Brico in Aspen, Colorado. Butas a sideline, he said, oh ,
(44:51):
I'll just, I'll just inventthese amazing bull markers ,
blah, blah , blah . So thefolks listening should really
check it out on point . Golf us. Really Amazing. Yeah,
Speaker 6 (45:00):
I've been, I've known him Britons like for a
long, like a long time. Likewe're buddies. Yeah.
Speaker 7 (45:05):
Such a lovely guy .
He's a
Speaker 6 (45:07):
Good dude. Yeah . So where can people find you or
the best way people can findyou? So
Speaker 7 (45:12):
Yeah, YouTube, it's Nick Bradley golf , and it's
the same with Instagram. And ,um, uh, my web , my website's
bradley golf.com. So there's ,uh, there's some stuff on
there, mainly online courses.
But of course they can, they,they can see me in person if
they want to. Um, and to get medirect , uh, just go through
(45:34):
the website, there's a contactbox there. They can email me
direct and if they're in thearea, I'll , uh, my first
question to them will be whatdoes success look like to you?
And what can I do ?
Speaker 6 (45:45):
That's awesome.
Well, I really appreciate youbeing on the show. I know
you're a very busy, busy man.
And , um, I'm a big fan. Ifollowed your career and you
guys need to check out Nick'sstuff Like Nick , Nick is the
real deal. And um, so thank youfor being on the show. I really
do appreciate it.
Speaker 7 (46:05):
Thank you, Paul.
Thank you for having me.
Speaker 3 (46:07):
Thanks for listening to another episode of Behind
the Golf Brand podcast. You'regonna beat me and golf stay
connected on and off the showby visiting golfers
authority.com. Don't forget tolike, subscribe and leave a
comment. Golf is always morefun when you win. Stay out of
the beach and see you on thegreen.
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